Village seeks intervention with Gliniewicz pension

Gregory Harutunian

 

Fox Lake police Lt. Charles Gliniewicz led the department's Explorer Post 300, with headquarters in the basement of the former Lions Club building. The trophy collection represents the winning efforts of the post members in nationwide competitions related to law enforcement practices. (Photo by Gregory Harutunian/for Chronicle Media)

Fox Lake police Lt. Charles Gliniewicz led the department’s Explorer Post 300, with headquarters in the basement of the former Lions Club building. The trophy collection represents the winning efforts of the post members in nationwide competitions related to law enforcement practices. (Photo by Gregory Harutunian/for Chronicle Media)

Another chapter in the story of the late Fox Lake police officer Lt. Charles Gliniewicz unfolded April 9, when the Fox Lake Police Pension Board convened to review the submitted application of his widow, Melodie Gliniewicz, to receive death and survivor benefits from his more than 30 years of service with the local law enforcement agency.

It also mulled over a municipal filing that requests the Village of Fox Lake be allowed to speak at the pension hearing to present information that officials believe is crucial to the pension board’s deliberations. The request was granted, and a hearing set for 1 p.m. May 25, at the Village Hall.

At issue is Gliniewicz’s widow being slated for a June 27 trial on nine counts of money laundering and misuse of charitable funds for personal and business use, and money laundering resulting from her part in both husband and wife allegedly misappropriating funds from the Fox Lake Explorer Post 300 bank accounts under their fiduciary control.

Also at issue is the Sept. 1 suicide of Lt. Gliniewicz, 52, masked as a homicide under the implication of diverting attention from the financial malfeasance, according to the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force, as revealed during a Nov. 1 press conference.

The pension board faces the dilemma of the two issues in deciding what percentage of the police officer’s annual salary, which has eligibility thresholds for 50-75 percent, and amounts to approximately $45,000 each year, at a minimum.

“By statute, the pension board is separate, so we had to file a motion to intervene,” said Fox Lake Village Administrator Ann Marrin. “That action allows us to come to the table, where village representatives can present our side of the story, and offer facts that we want them to consider.

“They have the power to say how much will be allotted, and approve or disapprove … they need to hear some things,” she said. “Her attorneys will be there, state their case, and once we have our say, they (board) has to weigh it out for the direction they want to take.”

A legal point also revolves around the police officer not having been charged with any crimes, prior to his demise, and carrying a status tantamount to innocence in a court of law. His wife has no criminal history, and the sentencing penalties for her indictments can range from probation to seven years of incarceration.

Marrin also said the task force returned nearly 25 terabytes of documents, photographs, and other materials to the village last December, regarding Glinieiwcz’s death and activities.

“We are still working to release material through the backlog of FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests, and documents must be reviewed and redacted.

The financial malfeasance came to light through bank records of several different Explorer Post accounts, obtained through the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Marrin said. “Those records cannot be released, since they are still part of an ongoing investigation through the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office, with his wife’s proceedings.”

Cynthia Vargas, the state’s attorney’s office spokesperson, said, “There is a May 17 court date for a hearing, and all the subpoenaed material from J.P. Morgan Chase Bank was tendered April 14 to the state. It was set for trial June 27, but that’s a tentative date and is subject to change.”

Melodie Gliniewicz, 51, was charged last January, with six felony counts for her alleged involvement in the financial malfeasance, with four additional felony and misdemeanor counts added last month through Lake County Grand Jury indictments brought by State’s Attorney Michael Nerheim. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

One count of disbursing charitable funds without proper authority for personal benefit was also dismissed by the prosecution, at the time of the new indictments.

Leading into the confluence of events with the impending criminal trial and pension determination is a question of the court potentially attaching the death benefits for monetary fines, should a guilty verdict be reached. Village officials and the state’s attorney’s office declined to comment.